What’s new in cat litter?

There weren’t very many cat litter vendors at SuperZoo.  I saw a booth for Dr. Elsey’s, (my personal favourite), a booth for SWheatScoop, and a booth for this unfortunately-named litter from China:

Woody_Balls

I think there may have been two or three booths featuring cat litter from China, but they seemed to be big on “fashion” and not on functionality.  In other words, one booth had cat litter in about two dozen designer colours, but that didn’t give me any indication that that stuff would actually clump well and absorb odors.  The American vendors were stressing “green” too, but the environmental kind.  Here’s a photo of two new brands I was able to bring home to sample, ”Good Mews”, and ”Close to NatureNow”:

two_new_cat_litters

Good Mews is a pellet litter made of recycled paper.  You fill the litterbox, scoop the solid chunks every day, and then dump out and replace all the litter at the end of the week (or whenever your nose tells you to).  The manufacturer claims that it’s dust-free, doesn’t track, and that the pellets not only absorb three times more than clay, they also keep their form and don’t crumble.  I’ve never used this sort of litter, because my litterboxes are large enough to hold Christmas trees and it’s just impractical to completely empty them once a week.  However, I’m certainly not opposed to the concept, and I’d be willing to try this litter out in a small box.  I think a trial-run will have to wait until our next set of bottle-babies, but this litter will be perfect for them because it’s safely ingested and totally non-toxic. 

I was able to try Close to NatureNow as soon as we brought it home.  It’s a scoopable, flushable litter, and the manufacturer recommends you let your cats adjust to it by filling your litterbox with 50% of your current litter, plus 50% of this new litter.  I could do that, so one of the downstairs litterboxes is now a mix of Dr. Elsey’s and Close to Nature Now.  The litter is organic and all-natural, made from a mix of soybean meal and potato starch.  It smells a bit toasted, and looks like cornflake crumbs or panko crumbs, the type you’d use for breading.  It does seem to clump nicely, although the clumps look a bit odd with the little flakes all over them—they are not a delicious dessert treat, even if they remind you of toasted coconut.  I’d be curious to see how a litterbox filled with just the Close to NatureNow litter performed, because the flakes seem very delicate, and I’d worry about the lumps crumbling when scooping.  I’ve seen no evidence of this yet, so don’t quote me.  I’d definitely try this litter in the rest of my litterboxes if it was easily accessible and inexpensive.  The product rep said that the company would work with rescues to give them large-quantity bags without all the fancy packaging, so that might make this litter very reasonably priced if you can get that sort of discount.

I didn’t bring home an SWheat Scoop because I’ve used it a few times and know now it performs.  I’ve used it for bottle-babies just learning to use the litterbox, because it’s safe for them to eat, but I find it a bit rough and it seems like it would be uncomfortable for the kittens to walk on.  However, it smells pretty good (just a fresh, wheat-y scent, no deodorizers), it clumps well, and it doesn’t track too badly.  I looked at a very large bag of it at Petsmart and thought about buying it for the adult cats, but it’s a lot more expensive than Dr. Elsey’s, and I don’t have any real need to change.

When I did an informal survery about cat litter last year, a few folks seemed fond of World’s Best Cat Litter.  I’m seen in it stores, but it’s so much more expensive than the Dr. Elsey’s that I can’t justify buying it.  The World’s Best people had a nice large booth at SuperZoo, but wouldn’t give me a sample to bring home to test, so it will still remain the great unknown.  As for the crystal-based, absorbing litters, I didn’t see booths for any of them that I can recall.  Perhaps that concept is falling out of vogue?

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/27 at 03:56 AM

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  1. An entire post on kitty litter—excellent! I’m going to keep an eye out for Dr. Elsey’s.

    Posted by Calamity Jen  on  09/27  at  06:45 PM

  2. Yes, I was going to answer your previous blog comment, but figured I’d just do an entire entry.  I’ve been preaching about Dr. Elsey’s litter for over a year, and I still love it.  It’s unscented, it doesn’t track very much because the pieces are large. it clumps very well, and I just find that the litter doesn’t stink, period.  I have heard great things about World’s Best Cat Litter as well, so it may live up to its name, and you should probably also give it a try. 

    The only place I can find Dr. Elsey’s “Precious Cat” here is at Petsmart.  In Canada, I think “Pet Valu” stores carry it.  The type I use is the unscented Precious Cat Ultra:  http://www.preciouscat.com/precious-ultra-p-2.html

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  09/27  at  10:15 PM

  3. Thank you SO much! I’m going to the nearest Pet Valu store this weekend.

    Posted by Calamity  on  09/28  at  06:50 AM
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